#THE GREATEST SPECTACLE IN RACING SERIES#

The big teams boycotted Indianapolis - CART raced head-to-head with the Indy 500 in 1996 at Michigan, Jimmy Vasser won and asked вЂњWho needs milk?вЂќ in victory lane - and didn't start their slow return for almost five years. George, however owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500, and when he created the IRL out of frustration with CART, it fractured open-wheel racing in America.

#THE GREATEST SPECTACLE IN RACING SERIES#

The IRL was up and running but CART was still king - CART was once far bigger than NASCAR or any other North American motorsports series - and Penske and Chip Ganassi and all the other big guns shunned Tony George and his weird little series. A series born during a bitter war among the controlling parties in American open-wheel racing led to the 1996 creation of Indењњar - then called the Indy Racing League - and its rag-tag bunch of fledgling racers.Д«uzz Calkins and Scott Sharp shared the first championship after the inaugural three-race season, and Tony Stewart won the 1997 title before he began his migration to NASCAR. When Power references the close competition across the entire grid, he's not talking about a recent phenomenon. Six-tenths covers how many cars in Formula One? One or two cars? That's no joke.вЂќ 'Just look at the math: six-tenths (of a second) covers 23 cars in practice. вЂњIt's more competitive than Formula One is, it just is, and you don't have to take my word for it.

вЂњI think Indењњar is the most competitive open-wheel series in the world,вЂќ said Will Power, the Australian who won the Indy 500 in 2018. Roger Penske can finally fully open the gates at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since he purchased the iconic venue just weeks before the start of the pandemic.ДЄfter years of trying to establish itself as one of the top series in motorsports, Indењњar is having its moment and вЂњThe Greatest Spectacle in RacingвЂќ just might live up to its name. Some 20 drivers, maybe more, are legitimate contenders to win on Sunday (US time) in front of a crowd expected to swell past 300,000. Scott Dixon certainly made his point in Indianapolis 500 qualifying by reaching speeds of 234mph in a record-breaking run. The speeds have been insane - 234 mph for Kiwi Scott Dixon in a record-breaking run for the pole - and Jimmie Johnson and Romain Grosjean are both part of the fastest field in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

The greatest spectacle in racing